luck – Beyond Beyond Belief

#44 Frakes and geeks [S4E12 with Samm Levine]

By Jesse Chapman | January 8, 2019

Kyle is sitting out but we have guest-host actor and podcaster Samm Levine. Samm has watched the show before, and also had a neighbor who bragged about acting in an episode of Beyond Belief.

Samm is a hardline skeptic of all things supernatural. A big believer of known skeptic James Randy and the million-dollar challenge.

Samm has appeared recently on the show Movie Trivia Schmoedown.

Story 1: Witness To Murder – A ghost hunter who captured ghosts on film meets a mysterious end.

Samm tries to unpack Chris’s belief in ghosts.
In talking about the integrity of true stories in BB, Samm tells us the actual true story of Cool Runnings.
Most people find this story too be ridiculous and very writery.

Story 2: Roulette Wheel – A down on his luck gamboling addict finds himself on a mysterious winning streak.

Samm does not believe that odds could allow this to happen. Also, the pit boss would have thrown him out way earlier.
Chris thinks there are so many gambling stories that this could have happened.

Story 3: The Phrenologist’s Head – A doctor given a Phrenologist’s Head finds a smudge on it that leads to a miraculous discovery.

Samm explains that the doctors would have figured it out eventually upon surgery…And a lawsuit.
Chris believes that something could have happened to lead the doctor down the right path.
Jesse wonders if Freud’s ghost is involved in the smudging.

Story 4: The Bridge – A hiker crosses a shaky bridge and is helped by a mysterious woman who turns out to be more than she appears.

Jesse thinks the woman had her mom’s name in her subconscious and projected onto the woman.
Samm thinks it’s a single-source story where the woman miss remembered the events. points to Malcolm Gladwell’s Blink.

Story 5: The Cigar Box – A girl buys an antique, which turns out to belong to a neighbor.

This segment stars Campbell Lane, who does VO for the second half of BB.
Jesse thinks there are one too many coincidences.
Samm walks through how it could have happened – he was just a bitter old man who died after being denied his antique box by a little girl.

Friend of the podcast, Misty Stinnett (who has a new podcast Go Help Yourself) shares some self-help tips. But some are fact and some are fiction.

The story results are revealed.

Samm tells us a story of when he “met” Jonathan Frakes.
To find out which stories are fact and which are fiction… you must listen to the podcast, or check out the full episode below or on Amazon Prime.

#36 Pickle [S4E4]

By Jesse Chapman | October 2, 2018

The group discusses how great the all-female episode was. Tiffany realizes how hard it is to host the podcast (but is it really? Try doing these show-notes every week).

Story 1: Second Sight – A blind woman who received a corneal transplant can’t help but stare at a certain suspicious looking man.

No one believes this story.
Jesse thinks the guy has Skeet-Ulrich-from-scream-hair.
Tiffany thinks it could have just been a coincidence.
Chris thinks she may just have had a psychic intuition

Story 2: The Fine Line – When one sister is miles away her twin gets a bad feeling…

Jewel Staite from Firefly was featured in this story. Jesse points out that, more importantly, she was in Space Cases.
Is there a beyond belief twin rule? …No.
Jesse doesn’t feel like there was any interesting twists in this story.
Jesse thinks it could be a complicated rule story.

Story 3: The Wrong Turn – A mattress deliveryman swerves to miss an old lady and ends up saving a little kid. But where is the old lady?

Mark gives us the story recap…Kyle criticizes Mark’s recap…Chris rates Mark’s recap a 99/100.
Kyle proposes a plausible theory about how this story could have actually happened involving people taking lots of drugs.
Chris makes a connection to last week’s story, “Out of Service,” where someone who is alive projects themself as a vision to seek help.

Story 4: Who Was I – A man suffering from claustrophobia sees a hypnotist and digs far back into the cause of this illness.

The group discusses personal stories about hypnotism.
Kyle thinks he may have heard about this other man then just forgot.
Jesse points out through his knowledge of hypnosis, that it’s more likely that a hypnotist would plant the idea or belief in the patient.

Story 5: You Are Next – When a man’s luck is turned around he tries to call off a hit he placed on his wife.

Everyone wonders – who told this story?
Kyle loves this story.
Tiffany doesn’t understand why he would still take her to the restaurant. Kyle thinks since they probably got engaged at a Chinese restaurant he probably just didn’t want to mess up the anniversary.
Everyone points out how cool this guy’s chair is.

Part 4 of our Ouija experience:

A caller leaves a voicemail that influences the group’s decision to move forward with the Ouija experience.

The story results are revealed.

The group tied at 3 correct!
To find out which stories are fact and which are fiction… you must listen to the podcast, or check out the full episode below or on Amazon Prime.